Envelopes of cash are the way business used to be done in Baltimore County; a guilty plea suggests times haven't changed nearly enough

The revelation that the confidential FBI informant who first connected Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks with what turned out to be a bribery sting is former Baltimore County schools official Robert J. Barrett presents some additional intrigue for the case against the lawmaker. Mr. Oaks’ attorneys are already arguing that Mr. Barrett’s participation taints the case against their client because he was motivated to set Mr. Oaks up to secure a lighter sentence for himself. But it’s also a bombshell in Towson. (Balt. Sun)

David A. Plymyer: No county circles the wagons like Baltimore County

As Baltimore County Councilman Julian Jones noted, the $38 million in damages awarded in the civil lawsuit brought by the family of Korryn Gaines, who was killed by county police after a six-hour standoff in 2016, should prompt a review of police department policies. But it likely won’t: Such a review would be inconvenient to the gubernatorial ambitions of County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. (Balt. Sun)

We were encouraged recently to watch the Baltimore City Council vote overwhelmingly to move forward with a bill that would ban volatile crude oil terminals. That was a forward-thinking move. One of us is a 40-year veteran railroader, worker representative and wreck investigator who has labored in rail and marine work in and through Baltimore for decades. The other worked for 38 years in high-voltage testing and maintenance at some of the most sensitive points in our electrical system, and now serves on the Turner Station Conservation Teams working for a just transition for communities nearest the Port of Baltimore. (Brew)

March 5 // Cory McCray: Time to stand up for education funding

Since 2011, funding for vital public school infrastructure projects in the 45th District has ranked last or second-to-last each year compared to the rest of Baltimore City. While other electoral districts in the city have received up to three times the financial support for newly built or renovated schools, our district has lagged dramatically behind. These statistics are especially distressing given the existing disadvantages that our students already face. (AFRO)

A veil of anonymity for Maryland’s police officers

Buried three-quarters of the way through a 286-page draft report last year on the rules governing Maryland’s judiciary is a single sentence that represents a shard in the vast mosaic of guidelines, procedures, regulations and traditions that help distinguish American democracy from tyrannies, autocracies and totalitarian states. The sentence is boilerplate — it simply provides that the names of police officers and other law enforcement authorities involved in arrests be included in the state court system’s searchable online case database. In fact, the only remarkable thing about the sentence is that it is crossed out. In their wisdom, or rather absence of it, the people who make the rules for Maryland’s courts decided that transparency and police accountability are no big deal. (Wash. Post)

For Maryland court records, opacity when transparency is needed most

There has never been a time when the public interest in being able to search court records to determine which police officers were involved in an arrest or would serve as witnesses in a case was more clear. After the indictments of members of the Baltimore Police Department’s now defunct Gun Trace Task Force, defense attorneys were able to quickly find cases the corrupt officers had been involved in, which could help free innocent people from prison. Reporters for The Sun and other media organizations were able to rapidly get a sense of how prolific that group of officers had been in making arrests to give the public a sense of the scope of the problems the officers’ misdeeds might cause. (Balt. Sun)

This week, the Maryland General Assembly will evaluate two very different proposals for the future of energy and climate policy in our state. One, The 100% Clean Renewable Energy and Equity Act, will fundamentally change the trajectory for wind and solar development, strengthen our economy and build a solid pathway to using only clean renewable electricity by 2035. The other, The Clean Energy and Jobs Act (CEJA), will accelerate the current Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mechanisms to reach a target of 50 percent renewable electricity by 2030. There are five key reasons why Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility supports the 100 percent bill. (Balt. Sun)

President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan is the start of an important conversation on how we modernize the nation’s aging transportation systems and prepare them to meet the demands of the 21st-century economy. But there is still a great deal of work to be done, and the president and Congress must work together to prioritize funding for critical infrastructure projects here in Maryland and throughout the Northeast Corridor. (Balt. Sun)